Amadou* had been working for two years in the southern Algerian city of Tamanrasset when policemen arrived to detain him and then send him back to the desert, in the direction of Niger. The thirty-year-old West African recounted his journey across the desert and his difficult return home.
After years of service, hundreds of undocumented deliverymen have been laid off by meal delivery company Frichti in Paris. After the couriers took to the streets, they received public support from different organizations. Now the couriers are asking to return to work and to be regularized.
Migrant rescue ships are no longer allowed to operate in the Mediterranean, the situation in Malta is getting out of hand, and the number of Algerian migrants in Europe is rising at an alarming rate. InfoMigrants spoke to Vincent Cochetel, the UNHCR’s special envoy for the Central Mediterranean, about these and other current issues.
Salif, a 31-year-old migrant from West Africa arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa in the beginning of April. From there he was transferred to Sicily where he says he and nine other migrants have been left to live on the streets. This is his story.
In less than a week, three migrants living in a temporary accommodation center in Paris have produced more than 1,500 facemasks to help protect people against the deadly coronavirus. The masks are given to the Salvation Army which then hands them out to migrant aid groups and other accommodation centers.
Belgian migrant aid associations have raised the alarm over a lack of government measures to protect migrants from an outbreak of the coronavirus. The groups also say that migrants' rights are being violated.
Aid organizations are concerned that migrants living in informal camps in France are the great forgotten ones in the country's measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus. The French government imposed a nationwide 15-day lockdown on Tuesday.
In mid-February, round 300 migrants were intercepted at sea by the Libyan coast guard and transferred to a detention center at Sharah Zawiya, in the south of Libya's capital Tripoli. The center has been open for at least a year. Recently, it has been taken under the control of the UN-backed government and has become accessible to the IOM.
The crews of private rescue ships have been placed under quarantine and humanitarian corridors, as well as Dublin returns, have been suspended. The coronavirus epidemic has prompted European states, mainly Italy, to take action related to migration in order to stem the spread of the virus.
Oumar arrived in France when he was 16 years old and started studying catering. But as soon as he turned 18, his apprenticeship was abruptly terminated and he was ordered to leave France. This is his story.
On Thursday night, the Ocean Viking rescued 92 migrants, including pregnant women and children off the Libyan coast. Those rescued were "extremely weak and soaked in petrol" said the rescue team.
Since the start of this year, two people have died after being stabbed in the Moria migrant camp on the Greek island of Lesbos. According to Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the main reason for the surge in violence is the severe overcrowding of the camp, with just 2,800 places available for the more than 19,000 people living there.